NFL Insider: Miller lucky suspension is over

Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller (58) celebrates at the end of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Denver. Denver won 38-3. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)
— AP

Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller (58) celebrates at the end of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Denver. Denver won 38-3. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)
/ AP

Congratulations to the Broncos, who went 6-0 with their best defensive player, Von Miller, on suspension for violating the NFL’s drug policy.

Peyton Manning negated Miller’s absence by dialing up 44 points per game, best in the NFL.

This week a Denver defense that’s last against the pass regains Miller, who had 18.5 sacks last year. The outside linebacker hasn't practiced for six weeks but tells the Denver Post he can still “move like a wildcat.”

Miller wasn’t fast enough, though, when trying to beat the drug cops this past summer. According to ESPN, his suspension owed to conspiring with a drug test collector to substitute another person’s urine specimen for his own.

The scam may have worked, had a second collector not discovered that Miller was not in the city where his collection was supposed to have taken place.

“He’s fast,” one source said of Miller, via ESPN, “but he’s not that fast.”

Cheating a urine test can cost someone a job in other occupations.

Miller is fortunate he’s eligible to play at all this season. The NFL sent a weak message to potential future drug cheats in suspending him only six games. The message: dodge the test and even if you're found out, you'll remain eligible for 60 percent of the season and all of the postseason.

It wasn’t Miller’s first drug violation. According to the Denver Post, he tested positive for amphetamines and marijuana in 2011. Does the 24-year-old have a substance problem? If he does, one hopes he’s getting help and the NFL isn’t enabling him. Miller, for his part, divulged no information relating to the suspension.

Any further slipups under the league’s drug program, and he would be suspended for a calendar year.

“All I can ask is that everybody judge me on my actions going forward,” he said, “and I can gain everybody's trust back that way.''

He is subject to increased unannounced testing, up to 10 times a month. Reportedly, the drug test collector with whom Miller conspired was a starstruck fan. Presumably the NFL, a $9 billion industry, won't have another fanboy collect the urine samples going forward.

Miller's injury risk is elevated given his long layoff. Even if limited, however, he makes Denver more apt to beat the Colts (4-2) on Sunday and then the visiting Redskins (1-4) leading up to the bye week.

So, if the Broncos are 8-0 and coming off the bye, talk of a 16-0 season will accompany them to San Diego in Week 10.

Going unbeaten looks farfetched, though, even if Miller regains peak form. The AFC West duel with the Chargers, who are 2-1 at home, where they've covered or pushed the point spread three times against a favorite, kicks off a difficult stretch of six games that includes a trip to New England, two contests with the Chiefs, who also are 6-0, a matchup against the physical Titans and a second game with San Diego. The bottom line: if Miller avoids injury and stays eligible, football fans get to see an entertaining performer and the AFC's favorite to reach the Super Bowl becomes more powerful.